Official calls for governor to stay in capital for sessions

Wednesday

Jul 25, 2007 at 12:01 AMJul 25, 2007 at 7:02 PM

As the Illinois General Assembly’s special emergency session drags on into a now record-breaking term, House Republicans have charged Gov. Rod Blagojevich to make greater efforts to bring the budget impasse to a compromise.

By Brian Hudson

As the Illinois General Assembly’s special emergency session drags on into a now record-breaking term, House Republicans have charged Gov. Rod Blagojevich to make greater efforts to bring the budget impasse to a compromise.

With a resolution introduced by state Rep. Sandra Pihos, R-42nd District, of Glen Ellyn, lawmakers called on Blagojevich to stay in Springfield and be “ready to negotiate” as the special session’s Tuesday, July 31, deadline approaches — and with it the prospect of a government shutdown.

The resolution might have been made moot since Pihos filed it at the end of May; Blagojevich’s publicly criticized flights in May and June from his home in Chicago to his office in Springfield largely ceased after the start of this month’s special session.

Still, Pihos said, the measure is meant to elicit leadership from the person with oversight of both aspects of the budget process.

“We have to have the commitment of the leadership and his negotiating skills, because at the end of the day, the Senate, the House and the governor have to agree,” she said.

The nonbinding resolution passed with a voice vote Tuesday, July 17, although it was decried by some Democrats on the floor beforehand. It was co-sponsored by 43 Republicans and one Democrat.

A spokeswoman for Blagojevich denounced the bill as misguided, adding that the governor has been in Springfield consistently since the session started.

“We think there are more pressing issues for the House to consider,” Rebecca Roasch said.

The stalemate has risen over a disagreements on how and whether to fund new health and education programs in the budget. Republicans have been largely opposed to plans that would raise taxes, such as a proposed cigarette tax.

Pihos said the only new revenue source she can foresee backing would be selling a gambling license that would bring a casino to the Chicago area.

Other opponents of the budget proposal have taken issue with the programs themselves. Rep. Jim Durkin, R-82nd District, of Western Springs, said in an interview this week that he was against raising new revenue to fund the programs, which he sees as excessive and shortsighted.

“I have to agree with the programs first, and I don’t agree with the programs,” said Durkin, who said he supports Pihos’ resolution but was not a co-sponsor.

Many Republicans are backing an alternate budget proposal that forgoes some of the new programs and would not require additional funding sources.

“Maybe this isn’t the year for the new programs,” Pihos said. “We have a budget out there; it stays in the context of the moneys we know are coming into the state.”

As of Tuesday this session is the longest in Illinois history, surpassing the previous record set in 2004. If a solution is not reached by the end of the special session on July 31 — or unless steps are taken to approve another temporary budget — there is a possibility that some government services could be disrupted.

But some representatives are apprehensive about extending the deadlock further into the future.

“We’re not doing a job if we’re going to pass another 30-day budget, and I don’t think there’s an appetite for that,” Rep. Durkin said.